Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday left New Delhi on a three-day visit to Japan for attending G-8 summit.Manmohan Singh said he would raise a number of issues from India's perspectives. They included the state of the world economy, development, trade, transfer of technology, energy and food security. Climate change and energy security, which are top of the agenda at this summit, will be utilized by India to push the Nuclear Deal.
During his stay in Hokkaido island, he will meet leaders of various countries including Russia, Britain, Germany, France and host Japan for bilateral discussions.Over the years, India's participation in the G-8/O-5 dialogue process has enabled it to articulate its concerns on a wide range of issues in a forthright manner, on an equal footing.
The Manmohan-Bush meeting will be the focus of eager attention back home as the two leaders are likely to discuss the timetable of the Indo-US nuclear deal that has led to a near break-up of the ruling coalition with the Communists threatening to withdraw support over it. That has led the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to seek support from their erstwhile foe, the Samajwadi Party, to ensure the government's parliamentary survival.There was, however, no mention of the India-US civil nuclear deal in the prime minister's departure statement.
